Editor's note: To illustrate the daily demands on referees, the NBA granted USA TODAY unprecedented week-long access to Scott Foster. Reporter Chris Colston traveled with him, sat in on his crew meetings and joined him in the locker room before and after games. The only restriction: players discussed in crew meetings could not be identified by name. This is the first installment in an exclusive five-part series:

Tuesday, Nov. 4 — Houston

While millions of Americans participate in a history-making Election Day, three NBA referees sit in a hotel room at 10:30 a.m., wearing T-shirts and sweat pants, watching video of a preseason basketball game on a wall above a king-sized bed.

Foster, now in his 15th year as an NBA referee, mans a laptop connected to portable projector. With the window blinds drawn, the wall makes an ideal screen as he reviews the expanded use of instant replay, approved by the NBA Board of Governors less than two weeks earlier, and "we're still trying to get the gist of it," Foster says.

Officials may now use instant replay to determine whether a field goal is a two- or three-point shot, and when the game clock malfunctions during a play concluding with no time remaining on the clock.

In line with the mind-numbing minutiae that is the NBA rule book, there's another situation the crew must know. On the screen, a player rolls the ball inbounds with 8.7 seconds left. The clock starts early and ticks to 4.3 seconds before officials recognize the error prior to another player touching the ball. Last year officials would have reset the clock to 8.7 seconds, but the ball would be in-bounded from up-court, where play was suspended. This season, the player must inbound the ball from the original throw-in spot.

"So we have do-overs," says first-year referee Haywoode Workman, 42.

Foster nods. As crew chief, he's approaching this meeting as a teacher. Workman played in the NBA for eight seasons, one of only three former players to become league referees (joining Bernie Fryer and Leon Wood). But tonight will mark just his eighth NBA game as a referee, counting preseason. The third member of the crew, Ed Malloy, 37, is in his seventh year, tied for 45th in terms of seniority among the league's 61 referees.

Foster is using the "Team Video" tool the league provides. It's a password-access website that allows referees and supervisors to swap and study plays, and he asks Malloy and Workman to make various calls. They review a "Tweener" play, one that could go either way. "Blarges" (block or charge?) are often "Tweeners." Foster then plays a clip of a Houston Rockets forward driving to the basket against the Memphis Grizzlies. "Watch this move," Foster says. "Anything wrong with that?"

"Let me see it again," Workman says.

The player carried the ball, resulting in a travel. Many fans believe NBA referees ignore all but the most blatant of traveling calls. But after countless hours of video review, Foster maintains that most of the time, they get it right.

The NBA allows a "two-count rhythm" after a player gathers the ball. But fans don't recognize that a player must have complete possession of the ball, and that the steps start after the gather. "In some cases that can be two very large strides to the basket," Foster says. "After reviewing tape it is often seen that what fans might have thought was a travel is in fact just an 'awkward' legal move."

At other levels of basketball, players are whistled for traveling if they fall to the floor with the ball. Not so in the NBA — as long as the player gains no advantage by rolling or sliding away from an opponent.

An NBA player is also free to rise if he gains control of the ball while on the floor.

There is an instance where NBA referees call traveling that won't be called at other levels. It's the "hop-hop" travel, when a player alights off a foot and lands on the same foot, i.e., a "jump stop."

Says Foster: "In the NBA we have a specific rule that says, 'A player upon completion of his dribble or gaining possession of the ball may not touch the floor consecutively with the same foot.' "

Foster devotes a healthy chunk of this session to the court positioning of the three referees: the lead, the trailer, and the slot. The concept is to form a triangle, giving each man a clear angle to make a call. The lead referee works the baseline, sliding up and down the line to follow the ball. If he slides from left to right, the others rotate, with the slot referee becoming the trail, and vice-versa. The idea is to have two sets of eyes on the "strong" (ball) side of the court, with the slot official working the "weak" side.

"Positioning is everything," Foster says. "You can't make the right call if you can't see it."

After a half-hour play review, the crew begins discussing that night's Boston Celtics-Houston Rockets game. "Forget that we're in early November," Foster says. "Tonight will be intense."

He shows a double-technical foul called on the opening tap of last year's game, when the Celtics ended the Rockets' 22-game winning streak. Foster worked that game, too. "If things get chippy," he warns Workman and Malloy, "be sure to get in front of the angry player and meet him face-to-face, assuring him everything is under control."

Those can be some of the toughest moments for a referee. "The more out of control the players get, the calmer we have to appear," he tells them, "even though inside we're thinking, 'Oooh, s—!"

Foster turns to Workman. "Haywoode, you might know some guys in this game. But keep the banter to a minimum. Let's be short, sweet, businesslike."

The crew also talks about individual tendencies of players. One has a hitch in his free-throw motion, which could cause an lane violation.

"The post play tonight should be interesting," Foster says. "There's going to be a lot of action around the rim."

The meeting wraps at 11:30 a.m. During the hour there is very little joking or banter; the barrage of terminology and minutiae covered is enough to send a casual sports fan's head spinning. Talk of the day's election never arises. Barack Obama or John McCain? All that seems to matter to them right now is whether the lead official is too far down the baseline.

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